Polyimide materials developed in recent years have found wide acceptance in applications requiring high thermal stability or chemical resistance. The polyimides are obtained by reacting specific tetracarboxylic acids or dianhydrides with diprimary diamines to obtain polyamide-acids which are converted to the corresponding polyimide.
Polyimides have been used as binders for laminar structures made up of the binder and a reinforcing agent such as a fiber or particulate filler. In the preparation of such laminar structures, a polyimide precursor solution is admixed with the reinforcing agent and then converted to the polyimide. One polyimide which can be used in this application is that prepared from the aromatic tetraacid 2,2-bis(3',4'-dicarboxyphenyl) hexafluoropropane (6FTA) and an aromatic diamine. In the preparation of the reinforced polyimide sheet or "laminate", the polyimide precursor solution of 6FTA, aromatic diamine and solvent is admixed with the reinforcing fiber or particulate filler and the polyimide precursor solution then converted to the final polymer form. At the same time, pressure is applied to the laminate to compact it and reduce the voids left by the removal of both the solvent and the water generated by the precursor conversion.
The timing of the compacting has, in the past, required very precise control. If the compaction pressure is applied too soon, unconverted binder solution will be squeezed out of the laminate. On the other hand, if the compaction pressure is applied too late in the conversion operation, the binder may have become too intractable to consolidate the laminate and reduce the void content with commercially feasible pressures. These considerations have previously limited the compaction temperature range of such laminates to a specific temperature plus or minus as little as five centigrade degrees for satisfactory results.